Richard Wershe Jr. ("White Boy Rick") received a life sentence because he was caught as a 16-year-old with eight kilos of cocaine in Detroit in the 1980s. The documentary about him entitled "White Boy" is premiering at the Freep Film Festival.

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Stateside's conversation with director Shawn Rech.

Richard Wershe Jr., otherwise known as "White Boy Rick", has been in prison for nearly 30 years. He's serving a life sentence because he was caught as a 16-year-old with eight kilos of cocaine in Detroit in the 1980s.

A new documentary exploring how the FBI got him involved in the drug game and the people who are working to keep him in prison, made its world premiere in Detroit as part of the Freep Film Festival Friday night.

The title of the film is "White Boy” and its director, Shawn Rech, joined Stateside to talk about how this project came to be.

How did a small-time teenage drug dealer end up with a life sentence?

This is back during the crack era when people were demanding answers from politicians, and all they knew to do was to increase penalties hoping that would work.

"This is back during the crack era when people were demanding answers from politicians, and all they knew to do was to increase penalties hoping that would work," said Rech. "There was a law called the 650-lifer law in which anyone caught with over 650 grams could be charged with this law and they could be charged with life without parole."

When the Michigan Supreme Court ruled laws like that are unconstitutional, everyone was automatically re-sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. So this seems like it would give inmates like Wershe Jr. hope of getting out after serving a significant amount of time already.

"[Wershe Jr.] has only had one public parole hearing, which was a fiasco," said Rech. "It was pretty clear there that the powers that be in Detroit were never going to let him out."

Rech was able to piece the film together with help from law enforcement, convicted drug dealers who have no reason to help Wershe, investigative reporters, and others, who all agree that there’s something fishy about "White Boy Rick" not being given a chance to be free.

Listen to the full interview above to hear how Rech found the people who contributed to the film, who is working to keep Wershe Jr. behind bars, and what hope he has of getting released.

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Stateside's conversation with John Hall, one of only five "juvenile lifers" to be re-sentenced and released since U.S. Supreme Court rulings outlawed mandatory sentences of life without parole for juveniles.

It happened in a Detroit alley in 1967.

Detroiter John Hall and an accomplice beat a man who later died of his injuries.

John Hall was convicted of first-degree murder and received a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole. He was 17 years old. His accomplice was never arrested.

But Hall's future changed with two landmark rulings from the U.S. Supreme Court – rulings that outlawed mandatory sentences of life without parole for juveniles.

The state Senate has adopted a criminal justice overhaul that aims to improve public safety by sending fewer people to prison. The 21 bills passed with almost unanimous support from Republicans and Democrats.

While crime and the number of prisoners is on its way down, state Senator John Proos (R-St. Joseph) says the state can do better. He says the key is making sure inmates succeed once they are released.

The Michigan Supreme Court says it will settle whether juries - instead of judges - have the sole power to decide whether someone under 18 gets life in prison without parole.

If the Court decides to give the sentencing power to juries, the juries would have to make a specific determination that the convicted had no hope of being rehabilitated and deserved a no-parole sentence.

Prosecutors for Macomb, Saginaw, Genesee, and Oakland counties in Michigan are not complying with two U.S. Supreme Court decisions about juvenile lifers, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in state court.

The complaint says the four prosecutors are seeking life without parole in the re-sentencing of almost every one of the more than 100 juvenile lifer cases in their counties. And the complaint says this is in direct disregard of the U.S. Supreme Court rulings.